Children’s channel Nick wants kids to play outdoor games

Mumbai, Aug 28 (IANS) Popular children’s television channel Nickelodeon has hit upon an innovative idea to tell kids to go out and play in the evenings - it will stop transmission for half an hour on Sep 27.Addressing reporters here Thursday, Nina Elavia Jaipuria, general manager and senior vice president of the channel, said: “To initiate a movement to make people aware of the importance of outdoor games, we are going blank for half an hour on Sep 27.”

“Today’s children are slowly shying away from outdoor games due to the advancement of technology and availability of several entertainment options at home. And we being a children’s channel have taken the initiative to remind parents and children of the importance of outdoor games through our movement called ‘Let’s Just Play’,” Jaipuria told IANS.

Jaipuria informed that they have more such plans.

“This is not the only thing we will be doing, but we are also planning for a long programme to remind people about our movement from time to time. We will be primarily targeting 20 major cities in India, where we will be holding road shows and other outdoor publicity campaigns to endorse our movement.”

She said the channel will also organise some special outdoor events in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore on Sep 27.

To effectively implement the idea, the channel will rope in some celebrities and the major characters from their popular shows to speak about the importance of outdoor games.

The channel has also roped in celebrities like member of parliament Priya Dutt, actress Pooja Bedi, F1 racer Narayan Karthikeyan, TV actress Aditi Govitrikar, and Indian cricket skipper M.S. Dhoni, among others, to support the cause.